Obama: ‘Nobody is listening to your telephone calls’

Will this be looked back upon at a later time as President Obama‘s “I’m not a crook” moment?

In defending his administration’s secret surveillance of Americans’ phone records and the nation’s Internet activity as valuable tools to fight terrorism, Obama said Friday:

“Nobody is listening to your telephone calls. That’s not what this program is about.”

Wracked by Watergate, president Nixon attempted to defended himself by saying he never profited from his public service. It was right here in Orlando, Fla. in mid-November 1973 that Nixon infamously said: “People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook.”

Obama pointed out that congressional lawmakers have been briefed on the program that was brought to light this week and added that federal judges oversee the program.

“They are not looking at people’s names, and they’re not looking at content. But by sifting through this so-called metadata, they may identify potential leads with respect to folks who might engage in terrorism,” he said.